


In This Together

by samandbucky



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Established Relationship, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, M/M, Multi, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:15:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23750680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samandbucky/pseuds/samandbucky
Summary: Tony has been secretly dating Clint, Bucky and Steve for awhile now. They've been keeping it secret, until the story leaks after one of Tony's big parties. Tony's boyfriends are angry with him, leaving him in the dark.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark
Comments: 1
Kudos: 60





	In This Together

“No, no, no!” Tony shouts, slamming the newspaper down on the table angrily.

“Tony?” Rhodey looks up with worry behind his eyes.

“Fuck,” Tony groans and buries his face in his hands as tears threaten to pour out of his eyes.

“Tones, come on,” Rhodey quickly stands up from his seat and walks over to his best friend, gently wrapping an arm around him to try and calm him down. “Deep breaths, okay?”

Tony quickly shakes his head. “Stop, I’m fine-” He tries to push Rhodey away.

“Clearly, you’re not fine,” Rhodey argues. He reaches over and grabs the paper from Tony, and frowns when he reads the headline **_‘TONY STARK IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE AVENGERS?’_** with multiple different pictures of Tony being cozy with the other Avengers men at a party held by Tony last night, and harsh words such as _‘playboy’_ and _‘slut’_ being thrown at Tony’s direction. “Oh.”

“Yeah, _oh_ ,” Tony scoffs. He grabs the paper from Rhodey and throws it across the table. “They hate me.”

“What are you- _who_ hates you?” Rhodey asks, frowning at his friend.

“ _Them_ ,” Tony repeats. “Bucky! Steve! Clint! They all hate me. The one good thing I had going for me, and I’ve fucking ruined it. I want to find whoever printed that headline and took those photos. They’re fired.”

“Of course. I’m sure Pepper is already getting on that. But, your boyfriends do not hate you, Tony,” Rhodey tries to reassure him. “That’s kind of impossible for them.”

Tony scoffs. “Really? Because none of them have been answering their damn phones all fucking night! And now I know why they haven’t been answering their phones...”

Rhodey sighs, and pulls out his phone, earning a curious look from Tony. Rhodey decides to call Steve, and when he doesn’t pick up his phone, he then decides to call Bucky. Rhodey frowns when even Bucky doesn’t answer his phone. Bucky _always_ answers his phone. “Huh. Well, that’s a bit odd, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not odd. They know that you’re probably with me, which is why they aren’t answering. They haven’t even been home all day. Probably coming up with a plan to break up with me right now. And, _shit_. What the hell is my dad going to say about all this? He hates the fact that I’m even interested in men, so how the hell is going to react when he finds out that I have _three_ boyfriends?”

Rhodey bites his lip. “Yeah. That- That’s a tough one,” he mumbles, feeling terrible for Tony and wishing he could do something more for his best friend.

Tony scoffs once more and shakes his head, anger and frustration coming over him. There’s sadness, but he’s trying to hide that part. Losing his boyfriends is his biggest fear, so the fact that this has happened, absolutely terrifies him because there’s a small chance he could lose the most important people to him.

Over the next few days, Rhodey continues to stay around the Avengers tower to keep an eye on Tony, since the boys haven’t come back around yet nor have they made any effort to contact Tony despite all that’s happening with his dad and in the news. Rhodey is worried about Tony, and hates that he can't do anything more for him. All he can do right now is be there for him.

“How’s he doing?” Natasha asks one day, as she’s in the kitchen with Rhodey.

Rhodey sighs, already knowing she’s talking about Tony. “Not good,”

Natasha curses. “Those idiots,” she grumbles, shaking her head. “Did they not stop to think that maybe Tony would need them in this terrible time? It’s not like it was his fault that the story leaked!”

Rhodey turns to look at Natasha. “I’m starting to think they don’t care,”

“After everything they’ve been through?” Natasha blinks. “I find that a little hard to believe, Rhodes.”

“I- I heard Tony arguing with his dad last night on the phone. About all that’s going on. It wasn’t pretty, Natasha. I managed to stop him from drinking himself to death,” Rhodey mumbles.

“And not to mention his dad,” Natasha hisses. “They knew he would be a part of this!” She looks over when she hears the elevator door opens and frowns when she sees Steve walk out of it.

“Oh, wonderful. Look who’s finally decided to show up,” Rhodey says angrily.

Natasha storms up to Steve and slaps him across the face, not feeling a bit guilty for slapping Steve. “What is wrong with you, idiot?”

“Ow!” Steve groans as he rubs his cheek. “What the hell, Nat?”

“No, _you_ what the hell? Where have you been? Doesn’t matter. Why haven’t you been with Tony?” Natasha demands.

Steve sighs. “Look, things have been… a little complicated,” he mumbles.

Natasha growls angrily, clenching her fists to stop herself from slapping Steve again. “ _Complicated?_ That’s bullshit, Cap. You’re all going through the same thing, so why exclude Tony? He’s probably getting the most heat out of all of you, especially with his dad being an asshole.”

Steve’s eyes widen at the mention of Tony's dad. “Shit! His dad. I totally forgot. Has he said anything to Tony yet?” He asks with panic.

“Oh, you know, the usual stuff-” Rhodey speaks up. “How disappointed he is in Tony for his lifestyle, and how he should learn to be a better son…”

“Okay, okay. I get it. It was bad. Shit. Where is he right now?” Steve asks nervously.

“Where do you think he is?” Natasha scoffs. “Where he _always_ is.”

“Why haven’t you been answering Tony’s calls? You’ve been avoiding him,” Rhodey snaps.

“Yes, but for good reason. We saw the papers when they were released, and Bucky was pissed when he saw that our relationship had been outed. None of us were ready. But, we knew it wouldn’t be good for Bucky to be around Tony until he calmed down. Clint’s with him right now. We should have called Tony, and I’m sorry. It’s not like we meant to make him feel bad. We just wanted to protect him,” Steve explains.

“We’re not the ones you should be apologizing to,” Natasha mumbles.

“Look, okay… stay here. Don’t let Tony go anywhere. I’m gonna get the others, and we’re gonna make this right,” Steve says, rushing back towards the elevator.

Rhodey sighs, looking over at Natasha. “There goes Captain America. Making things right, as usual,”

“At least he apologized for being an idiot. Now hopefully the other two follow,” she replies with a shrug.

A couple hours later, Steve returns back to the Avengers tower with Bucky and Clint as promised. They go straight to Tony’s lab, knowing already that that’s where they will find Tony, as Tony spends a majority of his time in his lab.

“Let’s get this over with,” Steve whispers as the three boys standing outside the lab.

Clint frowns as he looks over at Steve. “Hey, no, we’re not going to have that attitude towards this. This is Tony we’re dealing with, Steve. He’s gone through hell the past couple of days, and we need to make up for how we treated him,”

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Steve immediately apologizes. “Jarvis, let us in.” He sighs in relief when the door unlocks and they’re able to walk right in. They’re greeted with rock music blasting in the lab, but that’s how Tony usually works. Steve looks up and takes a deep breath when he sees Tony sitting at his desk.

Clint doesn’t hesitate though, because even though he’s been with Bucky this entire time, he’s especially been worrying about how Tony’s been handling the story of their relationship being outed. Clint walks straight up to Tony’s desk, tapping on the desk to get Tony’s attention. “Tony?”

Tony jumps, dropping the paper he had in his hands. He looks up with wide eyes. “Jesus Christ!”

Clint smiles a little. “Sorry for the scare. Can you…?” He gestures to the loud music playing.

Tony sighs as he stares at his three boyfriends. “Mute,” he mumbles, and the music stops playing. He crosses his arms against his chest as he leans back in his chair. “What do you want?”

“Okay, you’re angry… and you have every right to be…” Clint begins.

“Tony, we’re sorry,” Steve adds, cutting him off. “Things have been crazy hectic ever since the story leaked, but that’s absolutely no excuse to exclude you. You needed us, and we weren’t there for you. We should have been better boyfriends.”

Tony scoffs, trying not to give in because he’s still hurt and upset by his boyfriends. “I did not need you,”

Bucky raises his eyebrows at Tony. “That’s not what we heard,” he finally speaks.

Tony glares at him. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been stuck here all by myself. I can’t even fucking leave the building because of paparazzi mobbing me everywhere I go! We’re all in the same boat, but somehow I’ve been deemed the slut of our relationship?”

Clint flinches at the word slut being used by Tony to describe himself. “We’re sorry!” He apologizes again. “We-” He nervously glances over at Bucky, who gives him a small nod. “Bucky got more than a little upset after the papers were released, okay? W- We didn’t want him to be near you until we calmed him down. We thought that we were doing the right thing. But, I guess not. We should have called you, o- or _something_. We really are sorry, Tony. Will you please forgive us?”

Tony rolls his eyes, hating that he’s giving in so easily, but he loves these idiots too much to let them go. “You are so lucky that I love you three idiots,” he grumbles.

Clint grins, and instantly places himself on Tony’s lap, leaning forward to kiss him.

Bucky walks closer to Tony. “I’m so sorry, Tony. I just got so angry when those papers were released. At first, I was angry at you, but I shouldn’t have been. It’s not like you were the one who released the story,” he says.

Tony reaches his hand out, to which Bucky happily takes and holds onto it. “It’s okay. I understand,”

“And, also, don’t listen to what they’re saying about you in the papers either, Tony. You are not a slut,” Steve adds, also walking closer. “We know who you are, and you are not that.”

“I’m trying to ignore them, but it’s hard… given my past,” Tony mumbles.

“Your past doesn’t define who you are now,” Clint whispers.

Tony raises his eyebrows as he looks up at Clint. “So sophisticated of you, Legolas,” he says.

“Honestly,” Clint rolls his eyes, looking over at his other boyfriends.

Steve smiles fondly. “How are you really doing, Tones? Rhodey said that your dad called you…”

“Can we not talk about him right now?” Tony mumbles, looking down in shame.

“Bastard,” Bucky mumbles under his breath, knowing how harsh Tony’s dad can be.

“Buck,” Steve warns softly, reaching over and gently placing his hand on his good arm.

“Hey, we don’t have to right now…” Clint quickly reassures Tony, reaching over and gently resting a hand on Tony’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “But, at some point, we should talk about your dad.”

“Clint's right. In the meantime, when’s the last time you ate a meal?” Steve says, wanting to change the subject.

“I’m not hungry,” Tony groans. “I had a snack earlier-!”

“Nope,” Clint shakes his head and stands, pulling Tony up with him. “A snack does not count as a meal. You need to eat. I’ll cook you anything you want.” He starts pulling Tony out of the lab.

Steve chuckles as he watches Clint and Tony as he stands with Bucky. “We got lucky, didn’t we?”

“Yeah,” Bucky replies as he softly leans against Steve, wrapping his arms around him. “We did get lucky, and I don’t want to lose them. Not ever. I don’t want to lose you either. I- I don’t know what I’d do.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Steve whispers, gently kissing Bucky. “Come on, let’s go make sure those idiots don’t burn the building down.” He chuckles, and grabs Bucky’s hand, leading the way out of the lab. “Jarvis, lock the lab. Tony will kill me if we leave it unlocked.”

“Locked, Mr. Rogers,” Jarvis responds instantly.

Steve smiles as he looks at Bucky before they make their way to the kitchen.

“What took you two ladies so long?” Tony asks when the two walk into the kitchen.

“We were having a moment,” Bucky defends, immediately walking over to help Clint with the cooking.

Steve laughs, and walks over to Tony, standing behind him and wrapping his arms around him tightly. “Love you,” he presses a soft kiss to Tony’s cheek.

“Ooh,” Tony smiles as he leans back against Steve’s touch. “Are _we_ having a moment?”

Steve grins, moving so that he can kiss Tony’s neck a couple times. “We might be having a moment,”

“Oh. This is nice,” Tony sighs in content, finally feeling relaxed for the first time since the papers exposed their relationship. Having his boys back is all he wanted, _needed_ , after fearing of losing them over the past couple of days.

Tony groans when his phone starts ringing. He pulls it out of his pocket and takes a deep breath when he sees that it’s his dad calling. He hesitates, but doesn’t get a chance to answer the phone because Steve grabs it from him and slides it to the other side of the kitchen counter. “Nope. We’re having a moment,”

“Steve,” Tony groans. “I can’t just ignore him! He’s still my dad...”

Clint immediately turns to look at Tony with a serious look on his face. “Tony Stark. Listen to me. You are allowed to cut toxic people from your life, even family members,” he warns, pointing a fork at him.

Tony snorts. “I can’t take you seriously when you’re pointing a fucking fork at me like that,”

Clint rolls his eyes and looks over at Bucky. “Honestly. What are we going to do with that man?”

“Believe me,” Bucky looks back at Clint with raised eyebrows. “I ask myself that question every day and still don’t have an answer to it.” He looks back at Tony and smirks when he sees the unamused look on his boyfriends’ face. “Come on, don’t give me that look, Tones. I’m just kidding.”

“I can’t believe I’m being treated like this after the past few terrible days I’ve had,” Tony huffs.

“You’re being a little dramatic, sweetheart,” Steve chuckles, gently patting Tony’s stomach. “Things will get better. I promise. We're in this together.”


End file.
